Marcos Knight scored 16 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter to carry MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg to a thrilling 80-77 victory over FRAPORT SKYLINERS to move to 2-0 in Group B of the easyCredit BBL Final Tournament 2020.
Knight drained 4-of-4 three-pointers in the final 10 minutes and led the team in scoring while Jaleen Smith collected 15 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in his first game of the tournament. Zamal Nixon finished with 14 points and Nick Weiler-Babb had 13 points. The game also saw history as Jacob Patrick, the son of head coach John Patrick, scored 8 points to become the youngest player to score in the easyCredit BBL since the start of data collection in 1998 at 16 years, 6 months and 19 days.
Quantez Robertson tried to match Knight in the fourth quarter but couldn’t quite get it done, though he led Frankfurt with 17 points to go with 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. Yorman Polas Bartolo scored 16 points, Akeem Vargas had 15 points and Gytis Masiulis chipped in 12 points and 7 rebounds. Lamont Jones was held scoreless in 10 minutes as he suffered an injury for Frankfurt, which dropped to 0-2 in the group.
Nixon started the game on fire with three three-pointers and Ludwigsburg’s first 11 points for an 11-7 lead. Bartolo answered with a three of his own in a 9-2 spurt to lead 16-13 only to see Ludwigsburg score the final five points of the quarter and lead 18-16 after 10 minutes.
Neither team could really put together a run in the second quarter, which saw history as Jacob Patrick drained a three-pointer to make it 28-24 and the 2003-born talent’s first score. Bartolo, Vargas and Matt McQuaid all added three-balls for Frankfurt but it was Ludwigsburg who led at the break 37-35.
Frankfurt had the better start to the second half as Robertson hit a trey in a 7-3 run to go up 42-40. But it was back and forth the rest of the quarter – Vargas’ long ball being matched by Smith’s triple and Ludwigsburg were up 51-47. But Robertson’s three-pointer left the game even 51-51 after 30 minutes.
The fourth quarter was the Knight-Robertson show. Robertson hit a three and Frankfurt were up 58-55. Knight drained a long ball, followed by Robertson hitting from outside and he matched a Weiler-Babb three as well to make it 64-61 for Skyliners. Knight added two more threes and Ludwigsburg nosed ahead 68-66. The big shot-making continued with Joe Rahon converting a three-point play, followed by a Nixon triple, a Vargas three-ball and then back-to-back treys from Knight and Smith for a 77-72 advantage with 2:20 minutes left. Masiulis evened the game once again with a three-pointer off the glass with 42 seconds remaining. Knight would not be denied, hitting a jumper over Richard Freudenberg with 20 seconds to play for a 79-77 lead. Frankfurt had a chance to win with an in-bounds pass with 1.4 seconds to play. McQuaid was the in-bounds passer and got the ball back but was ruled to have stepped on the sideline to give Ludwigsburg the win.
QUOTES: Ludwigsburg’s Marcos Knight: “It was a tough game for us. With us missing Khadeen (Carrington) I feel like I have to step up a lot. We have a lot of new players. Z (Zamal Nixon) helped us out a lot at the beginning of the game but as long as we win that’s my biggest thing. That’s my main focus for sure.”
(About Jacob Patrick): “He has a lot of potential. Obviously it’s going to take a lot of hard work to continue to perform at a high level, but he has a lot of potential. He helped us out big today.
Frankfurt’s Matt McQuaid (watching the replay at the end of the game): “I don’t think it’s (his heel) down”
“It’s a tough call, but it is what it is. Give them credit. They played a good game. I just tried to get my feet set as quick as I could and get the shot off.”